1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a fish stringer, i.e. a device to facilitate retaining freshly-caught fish and keeping them alive in water near the dock, bridge or other shore structure or position, or from a boat or the like in water near the boat, and also to facilitate the carrying by hand of caught fish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Containers of the prior art suitable for carrying and storing fish are most commonly in the form of a bag or basket type container. Many of the containers for storing fish do not provide any cooling relative to the ambient air temperature. Such cooling is generally required or preferred to maintain the freshness of the dead fish and to prevent spoilage. Refrigerated containers suitable for the storage of freshly caught fish tend to be bulky, and are not conveniently portable. They also occupy a significant amount of the space available in a small boat, rendering their use inconvenient and representing a fruitless and unprofitable sacrifice of comfort and manoeuvrability within the boat should no fish be caught.
It is known to use stringers of various configurations to keep fish alive to maximize freshness. However, the inventor is not aware of any stringers in the prior art which are as simple, effective and economical to manufacture as the stringer in the present invention. One stringer in the prior art comprises individual hooks and skimpy wire clips attached to a loose, free-flowing length of chain. These fish stringers tend to rust and are bulky, and care must be taken in transporting and using these fish stringers so as not to entangle the chain or to catch the hooks on other objects. Moreover, the force exerted against the fish securing means by large fish attached to fish stringers of the prior art is occasionally sufficient to detach the fish from the fish stringer, thereby resulting in the loss of the caught fish.